Just One Musician's Opinion of the Music Industry

25 Chart Takeaways: Alabama Shakes Top The Billboard 200

It was a good week for Alabama this week – both Alabama Shakes and Yelawolf came to play on the Billboard 200. Shawn Mendes downgraded while Sam Hunt upgraded. All those takeaways (and more) here for your partaking!

2) Furious 7 continues to dominate all facets of pop culture. The soundtrack remains firmly planted at #2 this week, after Shawn Mendes’ Handwritten knocked it out of the top spot last year.

3) Yelawolf may have struggled out of the gates when Radioactive bowed modestly at #27 back in 2011, but Love Story lands at #3 with more well-rounded numbers. Will Yelawolf have much staying – “that is the question!”

4) Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late rises six spots from #10 to #4 this week.

5) Sam Hunt returns the top 10 as debut album Montevallomoves up four spots from #13 to #9.

6) After a rocky start on the charts, Little Big Town’s Pain Killer has been rising lately, this week improving five spots from #17 to #12 after 27 labored weeks.

12) Wale continues his downfall with The Album About Nothing. Four weeks in, The Album About Nothing has sat at #1, #11, #21, and this week #33.

13) Phew, it was a horrid second week for Tyler, The Creator. Cherry Bomb seems to be clearly on its way to being a bomb as it drops dramatically from #4 to #41.

14) Not a good week for Halestorm either, as Into The Wild falls in similar fashion as Tyler the Creator. After a #5 start, Into The Wild sits at #42.

15) Ludacris’ comeback is lukewarm, at least commercially. This week, Ludaversal slips from #35 to #51.

16) The Southern Style isn’t working for Darius Rucker. The album has fallen to #53 in only it’s fourth week in. Not even a sale price of $8 (at Walmart) seems to be able to fuel that fire.

17) Kelly Clarkson’s modest chart success with Piece By Piece seems to match the perception of the album – not her best or most memorable. Eight short weeks in, Clarkson sits at #65, which is very unusual for her.

18) Sufjan Stevens has never been prolific in the sales department. Unsurprisingly compared to the more commercial artists, Carrie & Lowell falls from #50 to #77.

19) Death Cab For Cutie have a flop on their hands with Kintsugi. 25 spots later, Kintsugi sits at #87 in only its fourth week.

20) Alabama Shakes’ debut album Boys & Girls reenters the charts at #118. This marks the album’s 74th week on the charts. The album has been gold-certified.

21) Ryan Adams live set, Live At Carnegie Hall debuts at #125.

22) James Bay gets a break – Chaos And The Calm improves from #189 to #150.

23) Jodeci’s return hasn’t been a commercially lucrative one. The Past, The Present, The Future drops 66 spots from #98 to #164, four weeks in.

24) Call it a flop – Hollywood Undead’s Day Of The Dead seemed pretty doomed when it started at #18. Still, this week – it’s fourth week – it sits at #177. Not a graceful fall in the least is it?

25) Not so wonderful for Mr. Wonderful – Action Bronson’s debut album slides from #124 to #182 five weeks in. And we thought Logic had it bad with Under Pressure!